This invention relates to line scanners operating in the millimeter wave region and more particularly to a semiconductor waveguide line scanner.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,794 issued to M. M. Chrepta and Harold Jacobs, one of the present inventors, there is disclosed a single element line scanner applicable to millimeter or submillimeter wave beam steering which includes a semiconductor waveguide made of a high resistivity bulk single crystal intrinsic semiconductor material such as silicon. Parallel spaced radiator elements are disposed on the top surface of the semiconductor waveguide transverse to the direction of wave propagation along the waveguide and parallel spaced PIN diodes are formed in the semiconductor material comprising the waveguide along either the opposite surface or an adjacent surface forming a conductivity sheet which is electronically modulated as a function of the bias current for the frequency to control the angle of radiation from the top surface while preventing radiation from the surface in which PIN diodes are formed. This reference is meant to be incorporated by reference, since the present invention results from an outgrowth of the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,794.
In addition to the Chrepta patent, reference is also directed to U.S. Pat. No. 2,921,308, Hanson, et al. issued on Jan. 12, 1960, which patent constitutes a reference cited in the prosecution of the Chrepta patent, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 3,155,975, M. G. Chatelain, issued on Nov. 3, 1964, the latter patent being developed during a cursory search of the Patent Office records and constitutes an antenna composed of an elongated microstrip with a plurality of space staggered radiating elements disposed on one surface of a dielectric block including a ground plane disposed on the opposite face.